Lisa Marie Riggins: Regional President
Lisa Marie Riggins is Regional President for the USO Southeast Region, she is responsible for USO operations and fund development in twelve states and a district: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Lisa Marie is a member of the USO’s Senior Leadership Team, reporting to CEO and President J.D. Crouch II.
Lisa Marie has deep connections with the military and was born into an Army family in Bremerhaven, Germany. She began her career with the USO as the Executive Director for the National Capital District (NCD). Under her leadership, NCD maintained positive revenue growth and opened four new USO locations.
As Southeast Regional President, Lisa Marie oversees the operations for over 1.7 million service members and their families. The Southeast Region is home to 36% of the nation’s active military force and 31% of the National Guard and Reserve Forces.
Before joining the USO, Lisa Marie practiced law as a defense attorney, a state prosecutor and personal injury attorney. She founded her own non-profit, Fairness for Athletes in Retirement (FAIR) to increase the pension for NFL retirees.
Lisa Marie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a Major in History from American University in Washington D.C. She earned her Juris Doctor from Fordham University School of Law in New York City and is barred in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. Lisa Marie grew up in the military and many of her family members continue to serve.
Download Lisa Marie Riggins’ Bio -HERE-
Sarah Kemp: Director of Operations
Sarah Kemp is the Director of Operations for the USO Southeast Region where she manages the operations, programs, budgets, and personnel for the region in ten states, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Sarah’s responsibility is to continually adapt and innovate USO services to support 33% of our nation’s active-duty military, 30% of the National Guard and Reserve forces, to include over 530k military dependents that reside in the Southeast region through their 44 locations that made nearly 1.6 million service connections in 2022 with a troop satisfaction rate of 4.93 out of 5.
Sarah’s work with the USO has spanned over 12 years. She started her career with the USO as a duty manager in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Following her assignment in Kandahar, she worked at USO headquarters in volunteer operations where she was responsible for identifying the best digital platform for a new USO volunteer database, and training 600 staff and 30,000 volunteers around the world to migrate onto the new Digital Cheetah platform.
After her time at USO Headquarters, Sarah held the position of center manager at USO Stuttgart, Germany supporting a military community of 23,000 with 15 units and two combatant commands where she increased total service instances 33% in two years. Most recently, Sarah was the Regional Operations Manager for the USO Southeast Region before assuming her new leadership position as Director of Operations.
Sarah has earned a bachelor’s degree in public relations and a master’s degree in leadership studies from Marshall University where she also serves on their Alumni Association’s Board of Directors. Her writing has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Military Families and On Patrol, Outside and Marie Claire magazines.
Additionally, Sarah is passionate about volunteering within her local community and serves as a coach with Girls on the Run and is a fierce advocate for Down Syndrome Awareness.
During her time with the USO, Sarah has been awarded (2) USO President’s Awards, (8) USOvations, (5) USO Kudos, and the USO Rhein Main Area Innovation in Action award.